Anyone else out there think that there should be different endings depending on the difficulty levels you play with? I always wondered through the last two why they didn't do that. Of course the person who plays all the way through on Expert should get the cool ending. I think that would be a neat twist to the game rather than just having the levels for fun.

DR

ChangelingJane

31st Jan 2003, 17:50

I think that, now that they can do ingame cutscenes, there's a bigger chance of having this kind of non-linearity in the story. It'll be interesting to see what they end up doing with the power afforded to them by the new engine.

Zaccheus

2nd Feb 2003, 17:32

In Thief 1 & 2, you can choose per mission which difficulty level you want. So making the ending depend on your chosen difficulty level would mean they would have to change that.

Digital Ruin

3rd Feb 2003, 08:44

Not always. All they would have to do is have a hidden point system. The more expert levels, the higher the points and if you pass a certain quota by the end of the game than you get the good ending. If you stick more to the normal levels than you don't get enough points and recieve a not so good ending.

Anyways it was just an idea.

Peter_Smith

8th Feb 2003, 04:43

Well, frankly, I think that if they come up with a good ending it ought to be enjoyed by all who purchased the game. On the other hand, there could be some side quests that could be used as bonuses, just as now there are sometimes places in missions that are open only in Expert skill.

TRoosevelt_26

26th Feb 2003, 03:29

Nice idea ^ , Peter; if they inserted something at least implying (although it really should be!) a dynamic world and environment, we could expect to see small things (like, "J.C., stay out of the womens' restroom. That sort of thing embarasses the agency more than it does you.") as well as larger stuff (like Jock's helicopter and Paul Denton's future prospects), only they would definitely affect gameplay more than in only a few conversations - that is, not merely a token amount. I would love to see a truly dynamic environment that changed on the fly because of circumstances within your control...suppose a bunch of thieves robbed a cathedral and therefore an alert was out, consequently making the guards more suspicious, making it harder for you? And suppose that you could inadvertently stop the robbery (say you met the thieves near the cathedral and made them skittish about continuing, or blackjacked some of them and robbed them after seeing them in the streets before the robbery), therefore inadvertently changing the game world and the overall difficulty of the mission?

But why stop there? Suppose you did stop the robbery. Then guards who might have been diverted from your optimum escape route by the hue and cry after the thieves now would not be, making it harder for you, or forcing you to go into areas into which you would normally not.

But why stop there?

I personally hope ISA doesn't. :)

TRoosevelt_26

26th Feb 2003, 03:31

Oops. After rereading the above post in context, I believe I accidentally got off the actual point of the conversation.

So...what I meant to say: these circumstances could play into the actual ending of the game - who was where when, who was allied with you (if anyone!), who was out of the picture, who had a grudge with whom, etc.